THE RIGHT TO PERSONAL INTEGRITY AS A CENTRAL SOMATIC RIGHT

In this article the author examines the position of the right to personal integrity within the personalistic (somatic) human rights system. Somatic rights are presented in the context of «fourth-generation» rights, which have emerged due to the rapid integration of scientific and technological achievements in biomedicine, genetics and neurobiology into everyday life. The somatic rights system encompasses several categories: morphological, reproductive, genetic, thanatological and neurorights. The right to personal integrity is fundamental in nature and stands as the only somatic right enshrined at both universal and regional international levels, while also being reflected in the constitutional and statutory laws of various countries. This right comprises  two primary entitlements: one concerns the protection of the unity and harmonious balance between an individual physical and mental essence, while the other affords the opportunity for self-identification, self-expression and control over one’s own body and psyche. The right to personal integrity is composite in nature and is frequently enshrined as the «right to physical and mental integrity». As a comprehensive right it occupies a central place within the somatic rights system, manifesting across each of these categories and safeguarding the bodily, reproductive, genetic, post-mortem and mental integrity of the individual.